The Space Force has finalized a plan for harnessing commercial satellite capabilities in times of crisis through a Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall approved the strategy this month, outlining a framework for how the Space Force will scale up its use of commercial capabilities including satellite imagery and communications during a conflict to augment military systems. The service’s acquisition arm, Space Systems Command, announced last year it was making plans to create a Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve, or CASR. The team met with industry in February and created a task force soon after to work through legal, policy, contracting and programmatic concerns.
The resulting strategy factors in concerns and feedback from more than 60 companies. It is key to ensuring the government and industry both understand the requirements and risks associated with leaning more heavily on commercial systems during conflict. Companies who sign on to CASR will also be subject to contractual terms, and the strategy lays out a spectrum of services firms can provide to support scenarios ranging from day-to-day operations to a national war. The Space Force is initially restricting CASR involvement to U.S.-owned companies or those firms owned by another country that have implemented measures to protect against the unauthorized release of classified information.
The Commercial Space Office is now working to finalize its concept of operations for CASR and craft a funding plan for the next few years. Kniseley said there may be some flexibility within the service’s fiscal 2024 and 2025 budgets to provide initial funding for the reserve, but the service plans to formalize its CASR spending plan in its FY26 budget request. The CASR strategy is just one piece of the Space Force’s approach to engaging with commercial industry, both in peacetime and wartime. A team led by Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, deputy chief of space operations for strategy and programs, submitted an initial strategy for Saltzman’s approval earlier this fall, but the Space Force chief requested more detail. Saltzman said he wants the strategy to include more detail on things like software procurement mechanisms. He also wants it to address which capabilities and functions the Space Force wants to perform and where it prefers to buy commercial services.
